By Julien
Derbyshire, United Kingdom
Stump killer advice
A friend of mine has got a problem with suckers coming from an old cherry tree, the tree belongs to a neighbour and it was a fare old size when it was cut down a few years back but the suckers are rampant, his neighbour is ok with him going round and applying some stump killer, so what would you recommend for this ? And what is the best stump killer on the market? Thanks in advance.
- 30 Jan, 2016
Answers
Thanks for the advice Bamboo,
30 Jan, 2016
Oh dear, do I have that to look forward to from my ash tree neighbour who has a cherry tree also not far from the fence?
Although she's said she will have the ash removed there's no sign of it happening. In fact, she's not been to the house at all for about 3 months. I'm not optimistic as I was hoping to persuade the tree surgeon to take some off her cherry too.
30 Jan, 2016
Oh dear, yes you probably do, but hopefully not for some time Arbuthnot. The trouble with cherry trees is, they put out a lot of long, surface roots for a fair distance. Pruning or cutting down usually makes it worse, too... but you can always treat any invaders your side as described above - there is a risk it may kill the tree itself, but that doesn't sound like something you should worry about too much - I wouldn't, in the circumstances!
30 Jan, 2016
The trouble is, its entirely possible the suckers won't be killed by any treatment applied to the original stump - once they've got going, they're growing on their own roots. I've had this problem in a garden before, where the suckers had grown up to 15 feet away from the original tree, along the surface of the lawn, producing shoots all along the length. I drilled into each sucker, and depending on the length and size of it, made one or two or several small 'wells' about a quarter to an inch deep, and filled up the wells with neat SBK. It works better if you can cover the holes with something afterwards. If the stump is still shooting or showing growth, that should be treated similarly, with the wells or holes being made about an inch in from the outer edge of the stump. The instructions on the bottle tell you to dilute it, but I never do - you just have to be careful not to spill it anywhere, its like water. It's certainly the most effective treatment I've used.
30 Jan, 2016